Another 56 metres long CAF prototyped tram arrived in the Hungarian capital a few days ago. The vehicle is scheduled to transport passengers from this autumn on Line 1.
The new type of tram is capable of transporting 345 passengers and has 81 seats – reports Világgazdaság. BKK bought this new type of vehicle as to the part of the ongoing tram and trolley bus project to extend the number of modern vehicles in the capital. BKK also reported that the availability for buying new types of trams is because the European Union provided financial support for Hungary.
Photo: www.facebook.com/bkkbudapest
From an approximate 17 billion HUF (50 million EUR) another five 56 metres long trams will arrive and an additional twenty-one 34 metres long vehicles.
Photo: www.facebook.com/bkkbudapest
All of these new traditionally yellow trams will transport passengers on the reconstructed tram line 1 which has been extended to Kelenföld Railway Station. All of these vehicles are low-floored with air conditioning and a security camera system.
BKK added that due to new technology these CAF trams are energy-safe vehicles and protect the environment.
Another great success regarding trams is that Hungary officially owns the most beautiful tram in Europe. Hungarian town Miskolc’s (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County) Tatra 202-type tram successfully kept the title of Europe’s most beautiful Advent tram. The competition started on the 13th of December in 2018, organised by the Czech MHD86 online portal, and for twenty days, seventeen trams from eight countries were expecting votes to win the unique title.
Anna Happ, Hungarian 11-years-old girl (in 2019) and a 10-years-old Hungarian boy, Laborc Gellért Szemeti (in 2013) became the two youngest to climb Mount Kilimanjaro’s 5895-metre-high summit (Uhuru peak). Both of them are Hungarians.
The girl’s father told to Index that Anna’s childhood dream fulfilled with climbing Africa’s highest peak in Tanzania; she was dedicated from the very first moment.
Anna accomplished the 6-days-long Uhulu climbing journey alongside with his father and a 20-person team. They have done a pre-acclimatization climb tour on Mount Meru, 70 kilometres west of Mount Kilimanjaro to get used the changing climate.
Anna Happ giving an interview after climbing Kilimanjaro at the age of 11, video: tenyek.hu
Anna described her feelings and thoughts on the top like this:
“We were all exhausted when we woke up at the last morning. I have started the day in a perfect mood, thinking that the day was going to be easy. When we got to Stella Point (crater rim at 5756 metres) I was so tired, I hardly could make a step forward. We were climbing with slow steps, so I was cold, and I got tired.
On the top, even though I haven’t expected it, I was crying with happiness. This was my dream since I was three years old, and now I can see that all the fatigue were worth it.”
Before Anna Happ, the 11-years-old Márk Szabó has also been up to Kilimanjaro; however, he only climbed up to the Stella Point at 5756 metres, which is almost as big of physical performance, as Anna’s. His father, Gergely Happ was not surprised to his daughter’s massive accomplishment, despite all the difficulties.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/hungarian-team-conquer-mount-everest-without-oxygen-tanks-first-time-photos/” type=”big” color=”purple” newwindow=”yes”] Hungarian team conquer Mount Everest without oxygen tanks first time – Photos[/button]
She was dreaming about this journey since she was 3-years-old when her father came back from his Kilimanjaro journey and told about it to Anna.
Tanzanian authorities allow climbing the mountain from 10 years age; however, parental permissions may allow for people below 10 years to start the Kilimanjaro journey. The youngest conqueror of the mountain was 6-years-old, but he probably has not accomplished the challenge on his feet only.
A Hungarian man, Ferenc Monostori, is a truly unique artist who makes sand sculptures. Soon, his biggest dream is about to be fulfilled: he is going to organise a sand sculpture festival in Hungary, in the summer of 2019.
Hungarian sculptors seem not only to make statues in front of NFL stadiums but also sand sculptures, like Ferenc Monostori. Building statues out of sand is clearly a spectacular art. Yet, very few people do it in the world, around 4-500 in total. Ferenc Monostori, one of the very few representatives of sand sculpting, has been creating them for 15 years, reported szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu.
The Hungarian sculptor from Tinnye, Hungary, has already made an exhibition at Easter last year. Its topic was the world’s four principal religions.
However, in 2019, the Hungarian artist is preparing for something even bigger: his first-ever sand sculpture festival.
Monostori is and has been participating in sand sculpture festivals all around the world. He said that 80% of his works are made abroad, but now he is extremely excited about his first own festival. Besides the many sand sculptures that he is going to present at the exhibition, there is also going to be some music in the background. Ferenc Monostori has not yet said too much about the event’s concept; he would rather keep it a secret until then.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/the-11-best-festivals-in-budapest-according-to-cnn/” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] The 11 best festivals in Budapest according to CNN[/button]
Gallery:
Jesus Christ (2018), Tinnye, Hungary,
source: facebook.com/monostori.eu/photos/
Four principal religion’s exhibition (2018), Tinnye, Hungary,
source: facebook.com/monostori.eu/photos/
Ganesha (2018), Tinnye, Hungary
Islam (2018), Tinnye, Hungary
Confucius with baby body (2017), Tinnye, Hungary,
source: facebook.com/monostori.eu/photos/
Baby sculpture in winter (2018)
Pope Francis and Monostori (2018), Salerno, Italy
Flowing-away Donald Trump (2017), Salerno, Italy
Albert Einstein (2014), Germany
Berlin in May 1945 (2016)
Feet of the giant (2015), Germany
Miner memorial (2017), Tatabánya, Hungary
Memorial of unknown heroes (2018), Blokhus, Denmark
Genghis Khan (2016), Germany
Featured image: www.facebook.com/monostori.eu/photos/
Together with E.ON, Audi is building a solar energy park on the roofs of the two logistics centers of its plant in Győr covering about 160,000 square meters. This will create Europe’s largest photovoltaic system installed on a building at the Audi Hungaria plant in Győr. It will have a peak output of 12 megawatts. Construction work will start in August 2019 and renewable energy generation will start at the beginning of next year.
As part of the joint project with E.ON Hungaria, Audi is providing the roof areas of the two logistics centers, each with about 80,000 square meters, for the construction of the solar energy park.
E.ON will build and put the park it into operation, consisting of 35,000 solar cells, and will continue to operate it, with an annual output of more than 9.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity.
This corresponds to the annual energy requirements of 5,000 households. Thanks to green electricity from regenerative sources, about 6,000 tons less carbon dioxide will be released into the air.
“We are committed to the economical use of resources and therefore want to keep the environmental impact of our production as low as possible. Approximately 70 percent of Audi Hungaria’s heat requirements are already covered by climate-neutral, geothermal energy. Our goal is to have completely CO2-neutral plant operation in the future. With the construction of the solar-cell park, we are now taking a further step to achieve this in terms of power supply,” says Achim Heinfling, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi Hungaria.
“Our company is committed to solutions supporting a sustainable future. The widespread use of solar energy is an integral part of this endeavor. We are pleased that E.ON has gained Audi Hungaria’s trust and a new, nearly 25-year partnership has started between the two companies”, Zsolt Jamniczky, E.ON Hungaria’s Board member says.
“We are working consistently towards greater sustainability along the entire value chain,” says Peter Kössler, Board of Management Member for Production and Logistics at Audi AG. “By 2030, we want all our production sites to be climate neutral. The use of renewable energies is an important lever for this.”
E.ON Board Member Karsten Wildberger adds:
“Intelligent energy management is indispensable for companies that want to achieve their sustainability goals. We help customers like Audi to combine climate protection with their business activity – and thus create value for their customers and our society.”
Having numerous Guinness World Record titles sounds good and definitely makes a country more interesting. While there are serious competitions all over the world where Hungarians achieve amazing results, it is also nice to look at the goofier side of Hungary sometimes and list some of the weirdest Guinness World Records that are to this day held by someone of Hungarian origins.
Art
The largest panoramic postcard in the world was created in Budapest – reports Kafkadesk. As a 14.4-metre high and 6-metre wide photo, it covered a surface of 86.4 square metres. It depicts eight Hungarian cities. Also related to art, in a way, is Zsa Zsa Gabor, one of the most well-known people abroad with Hungarian roots. Although she is not the only one to hold the title – she shares it with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Lana Turner -, it still counts: she is one of the Hollywood stars who got married the most, eight times, to be exact.
Here, we have to make a note of one of the famous Hungarian inventions that conquered the world – the ballpoint pen. László Bíro and his brother György created the first ever ballpoint pen in 1938 that was commercially successful in the world.
Their project received support from an important institution quite early on – the Royal Air Force employed ballpoint pens as they had the handy characteristic of not leaking at high altitudes.
Sports
Hungary, despite being a small country, produces lots of successful sportsmen and sportswomen who excel at swimming, for example. The sports-related Guinness World Records are from other fields, though. In basketball, for example, it was Bálint Huszár who achieved the farthest forward flip trampette slam dunk, 6.18 metres to be exact.
Still to do with basketball, the title of the longest time spinning a basketball on a guitar is held by the Hungarian Anna Malik. She kept the ball spinning for 13.23 seconds, while absentmindedly strumming a tune. You can see for yourself below:
Although Hungary is in second place when it comes to the most Olympic medals won per capita, there are still some Guinness World Records connected to the Olympic Games. Aladár Gerevich was the member of the national sabre team between 1932 and 1960. That is a long time to compete, but he got the rewards – he holds the title of the most successive gold medals won in Olympic history, namely six.
Béla Ordódy is also connected to the Olympic Games – he shares the title of oldest (male) ice hockey player at the Winter Olympic Games. He and the German Alfred Steinka were both 48 at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
The next two wins are related to sports from the other side of the coin. György Szepesi holds the title of the longest career as a sports commentator for
his work at the Hungarian Radio from 1945 on, covering over fifteen Olympic Games.
The title of the longest career as a football referee went to Géza Csernyi in 2007 for being an active referee for 57 years.
The weird ones
Although the previous wins were pretty strange themselves, they could at least fit into a certain category. These next examples are pretty out there, but there is still something cool about the fact that a Hungarian thought of them.
In 2012, the record of the world’s largest dance by couples was made in Budapest. 5188 people slow-danced on the bank of the Danube, winning Hungary the title that previously belonged to Paris. Another challenge also involving thousands was to get the title of most people simultaneously chalk drawing.
This project involved about 5400 people and had an additional motive – to raise awareness to environmental problems.
Last but not least, György Kovács, a Hungarian-born bartender in Liverpool, managed to get the title of most flips of a bottle on the back of the hand in one minute. He flipped it 146(!) times; luckily, you can watch the video below if you do not believe it:
There are other fascinating bits and pieces involving Hungarians, too. Just to name a few, the first artificially inseminated rhino was born in Budapest Zoo in 2007, while Hungarians also took part in making the largest hand-knitted blanket (1994 square metres) in Ireland last year.
The Hungarian village of Sajóvámos secured fame with the (yet) unofficial record of making the longest sausage in the world – it is 2431 metres long (2658 yards). A team of 16 people from the village created the extra long sausage with incredible speed, in just half a day!
This time, a Hungarian village of 2100 citizens called Sajóvámos near Miskolc has broken the Guinness World Record with the longest consecutive sausage. At a Serbian sausage festival in 2015, a crew made a 2031-metre-long, 3 tonnes in weight sausage, Origo.hu reported back then. Since then, on the 2nd of February 2019, Hungarians set a new record, informed borsonline.hu.
The original goal of the 16-people team was to beat the Serbian record. Well, they did so and even surpassed it by 400 metres (four football pitches). The ingredients of the record-winning sausage weighed 1700 kg.
Guinness World Record in progress, photo: facebook.com/sajovamosifenykeptar
Gábor Gál, president of the Database of Hungarian Record, announced that the Hungarian record was made that day for sure, and expecting a Guinness World Record is not an exaggeration. However, the village has to wait a couple of weeks for the Guinness Record Association to certify the official record.
The mark of the world record, photo: facebook.com/sajovamosifenykeptar
The interesting thing about the length of the sausage is that it almost has the same length in metres as the Main Street of the village.
At the most watched sporting event in the world, the Super Bowl, the largest free-standing avian sculpture makes its global debut!
More than 100 million people are glued to the screen during the Super Bowl, one of the most watched sporting events in the world, which is broadcast globally in 170 countries. It will be no different this year with Super Bowl LIII, which starts in a few days on the 3rd of February at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS).
Szőke’s work was commissioned in 2017 by Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, and the curatorial partner of the MBS Art Program, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
The stainless steel falcon is the largest free-standing avian sculpture in the world with a height of 41.5 ft, a wingspan of 72 ft, and a weight of 73 000 lbs. Szőke envisioned the predator’s prey to be a football. With its wings spread apart, it swoops down on the ball showing the steel falcon in the moment of touchdown. Similarly to previous works of the artist, the scale of the bronze football is also grandiose with a radius of 13 ft and weighing 8000 lbs.
Photo: Gábor Miklós Szőke
Locals and the international press have described the public work as the heart of Atlanta. To realize its impressive proportions, it took 6 months of designing, 8 months of production, 5 months of installation, all in all 2 years with the involvement of 200 people.
The work was made in Gábor M. Szőke’s unique studio and showroom in Budapest. From there, it traveled for a month and a half on land and sea to Atlanta, where it was assembled and installed by his team comprising structural engineers, sculptors, welders and other expert contractors.
During the design process of the sculpture, Gábor M. Szőke was inspired by the fascinating history of the city of Atlanta, which has burnt to the ground, and risen from its ashes two times.
“Before I start designing, wherever that might be in the world, I like to visit the future location of the sculpture, and absorb the local culture, and familiarize myself with the architectural surroundings and local’s way of thinking. Atlanta is exactly like in the films: the tumultuous history of the southern state and the high-tech skyscrapers of fortune 500 companies can be seen side by side. This trail-blazing city was the center of the civil rights movement. The Walking Dead and Gone with the Wind take place in Atlanta as well.
When I was formulating my sculpture, I first drew inspiration from the Falcon’s motto “Rise Up”, which for me signifies overcoming our own obstacles, and liberating ourselves from them.
The ethereal and graceful feel of the bird is achieved through the plastic arrangement of the several thousand individually welded stainless steel plates, and the precise structural engineering and execution. The glass walls of the MBS reflect the feathers of the bird, just as the reflection of some of Atlanta’s iconic buildings can be seen in the mirror-like eyes of the bird of prey. It’s going to be an amazing experience to see my bird again after two years, and especially at the Super Bowl, when the whole world will be watching. Sculptures such as mine build community, and I am grateful to be a part of this process” said Gábor M. Szőke.
Gábor M. Szőke’s work, the Atlanta Falcon, the largest free-standing avian sculpture in the world, landed in its eminent location among such important Atlantan sights as the Coca-Cola Museum, the CNN Center or the Georgia Aquarium.
A white truffle weighing 1,040 grammes has been found in Baranya County in southern Hungary, representing the largest truffle of its kind ever found in the country.
The previous record was 600 grammes, set in 2016, the farm ministry’s press department said on Wednesday.
2018 was an exceptionally good year for white truffles, several records have been set and prices dropped thanks to the abundance of truffles found in Italy.
2018 may end up being Hungary’s hottest year ever, the national meteorological office said, noting the country had witnessed its second hottest autumn since 1901.
In the month of September alone, there were 17 summery days, with daily highs of 25 C. or above, and two unseasonably hot days, with daily highs of at least 30 C.
September was 1.5 C. balmier than average for this time of the year, while October was 2.4 C. sultrier. November was 2 C. warmer, according to the meteorological office’s analysis.
Botond Nagy, who is a Hungarian martial artist, earned a new Guinness Record by setting up the fastest roundhouse kick in karate.
According to hvg.hu, the Hungarian boy owns the fastest roundhouse kick in the world. He beat the previous record holder with an amazing result. He managed to decrease the previous martial artists’ 0.70 seconds to 0.476!
The professional jury measured his kick at the 24th World Senior Championships in Madrid. Botond Nagy stated that, for the first time, he was only joking about this challenge, but when he saw that his results are better than anyone else’s, he took part in the official measurement process.
“Among the 100 competitors, I got into the best five with the best time after the first round to the final, where I won the competition.” – said the sportsman.
After the final, he got the opportunity to set a new Guinness World Record, and he succeeded. He received a paper about the world’s fastest kick at the venue, but the official document will be sent to him later.
This is not the only Hungarian related Guinness World Record. Here are some examples:
Children’s Railway in Budapest operating since 31st July 1948, holds the record for the longest narrow-gauge railway with 11.70 km.
Mófarguru Restaurant in Budapest holds the record for having the world’s longest menu with 1810 different meals. It takes approximately 20 minutes to read the whole menu.
Hungarian pianist Balázs Havasi holds the record for being the fastest musician in the world. He pushed the same key on the piano 498 times in 60 seconds.
The biggest book of the world can be seen in Aggtelek National Park. The book is 4.18 meters high, 3.77 meters wide and weighs 1420 kilograms.
Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory holds the record for being the cruellest female murderer
Daily minimum temperatures were broken in Budapest and Hungary early on Saturday, the national weather service said.
Until now, the mildest dawn on November 3 has been in 1970, when the temperature was 14.6 C. in Budapest and 13.8 C. in Sopron.
This year, the daily minimum temperature was 15.1 C. in the capital and 15.8 C. in Tatabánya, according to preliminary data.
Daily maximum temperatures were also broken on Saturday, both in Budapest and in the country.
The previous daily high for November 3 was 23.5 C., measured in 1970. This year, it was warmer in several places in Hungary, with the new record high set at 24.4 C., in Sarkad.
In Budapest, the daily maximum temperature was 21.6 C., more than 1 C. higher than the previous record of 20.5 C., measured in 1924.
As we wrote a few weeks ago, the water level of the River Danube has continued to drop from a recent record low, dipping to 41 cm at Budapest, read more HERE.
Weather forecast for today
Mix of sunshine and cloud with some gusty south-easterly winds in places.
Lows: 6, 12 C.
Highs: 18, 23 C.
GLOBAL WARMING: HOW MUCH HOTTER IS BUDAPEST?
25 years ago the residents of Budapest had to endure four truly hot days (above 32 Celsius degree) a year, while in the 2010s it has increased to 12. According to the most likely forecast models by the end of the century, this number is going to reach a whole month, read more HERE.
“The Hungarian flag above all” – wrote the world-famous Hungarian archer, József Mónus, after setting a new world record in archery, as Szeretlekmagyarország.hu reports.
The Hungarian archers broke the records in 4 categories in Wendover, United States, defeating prestigious American, Australian and French archers, among others.
The results, verified by the World Archery Federation, were indeed outstanding: József Mónus broke the record by 25 meters, reaching 897,66 meters altogether.
His partners, Anna Mónusné (643,94 meters) and László Mónus (747,59 meters) also set new records, together with Kiara Prokaj (578,5 meters).
“We made it! We made the impossible, as one could say” – wrote József Mónus after their huge success in all 4 categories of the competition they entered.
Following the contests, the record-setter Hungarian archer is going to visit the Nomad World Game with the Hungarian Kurultaj team.
As 24.hu reported, a new Hungarian record has been set when 326 people danced a traditional folk dance choreography in Debrecen.
326 Hungarians were dancing the Mikepércsi Csárdás to set a new record at the annual flower parade in Debrecen. The folk dance choreography of the Csárdás was created by András Béres around 80 years ago.
It was András Béres who originally came up with the whole idea of the Debrecen Flower Carnival – now hundreds of Hungarians came together to dance the legendary folk choreography at the 25th anniversary of his death, during the flower carnival.
Watch the video here:
The Mikepércsi Csárdás had played a significant role as the opening song of the Debrecen Folk Band’s performances for years. However, it has been forgotten for some time, to be “re-discovered” in Mikepércs so that it could become a symbol of the village.
In 2009, 318 dancers participated to make a new record – this year, the record has been overturned by 326 people.
Dancers of more than 20 villages and cities participated in the performance. There were participants from Mikepércs, Debrecen and Rozsály, with others coming from Poland or the Netherlands. The youngest dancer was 8 years old, while the oldest member was a 74-year-old men from Hajdúdorog.
The spectacular event took place at the annual Debrecen Flower Carnival. The flower parade started on the 14th of August, and it lasts for a whole week. The festivities include programs such as concerts, dance performances and interactive programmes.
Fifty-seven women have taken part in a synchronised skydive in Ukraine, setting a new world record, writes BBC. RTL conducted a report with the Hungarian members of the 57-member international group of women, NlCafe.hu reports.
New world record
A new world record was set by a group of synchronised skydivers in Ukraine. You can check out their Facebook page here; they share amazing posts about their adventures.
The stunt is the new skydiving world record, as this is the highest number of people, all women, to get into and then change formation three times during a dive.
They beat the previous record by one.
It all happened in just 90 seconds,
that is how much time they had between jumping out of the planes and having to open their parachute.
Cameras were recording everything from the beginning, and after the ladies landed, the judges looked at the footage and officially claimed that a new world record had been set.
The 57 women were the best sky divers from 19 different countries, including Hungary.
The 57 women jumped out of three planes, 5500 m high. This is such a high point that they needed oxygen, which they received through tubes on the plane, and they only left those right before jumping. The girls needed to start the formation immediately after jumping, but, luckily, everybody knew their place. This was a well thought out and well-practised formation.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/hungarian-success-at-crossfit-games/” type=”big” color=”lightblue” newwindow=”yes”] Hungarian success at crossfit games[/button]
Among the five Hungarian women, there is an anesthesiologist, a physiotherapist and even a liquidator. One of the Hungarians, Eszter Noll told RTL:
“Almost 60 women in one formation, changing it three times, it has never been done before.”
Adrienn Gergely also talked to RTL about how she could already feel it in the air that they pulled it off, and she felt that the record was theirs:
“It is an unforgettable feeling when you are part of that formation and you can just feel that we did it.”
Last Saturday, lots of people gathered on the Liberty Bridge in Budapest, and over 200 of them joined the mission of setting a world record – reports borsonline.hu. Since pedestrians get to take over the bridge for certain weekends again this summer, a lot of people were seen attempting the bridge pose this weekend.
People could witness a unique sight on the Liberty Bridge after 3 o’clock in the afternoon last Saturday. Over 200 people attempted the bridge pose, aiming to set the world record in this spectacular way. In the crowd, people were representing all age groups, from the smallest ones to grown men and women. Even Champlion, the mascot of the Wrestling World Championship, made an appearance.
The primary reason for the event was to promote the Wrestling World Championship taking place in Budapest this October.
That is why, besides the world record-setting bridge poses, people could also see some wrestling shows to get excited about the event this autumn.
28 July 2018, Budapest: The Hungarian national team with Champlion; Photo: MTI, Lajos Soós
Sándor Bárdosi, one of the hosts of the event entitled “Bridge on the bridge!” (“Hidalj a hídon!”), was present along with the best of the national team who will represent Hungary at the Championship. They seemed to have special powers – or just a lot of luck – as all the grey clouds disappeared from above the bridge by the 3 o’clock starting time. The athletes and other participants had mats ready for them in the middle of the bridge that provided enough space for over 200 people.
At first, people dropped into the bridge pose in a domino effect-style, one after the other. Sándor Bárdosi and members of the Olympic team also participated in this, bringing the number of participants to a total of 204.
Photo: MTI, Lajos Soós
Luckily, setting the world record was a success, so it is no wonder that the audience got really excited and ran up to the national athletes, asking for autographs.
Sándor Karvai proves that nothing is impossible, but you have to work for it. He already has 3 Guinness records but is always looking for more challenges, szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu reports.
Many think that those who cannot see, spend their life holed up in their room. Blind people crave adventures just like everyone else and they can and will do things we never thought possible.
Blind people can live an active social life too. They can go to parties, to the theatre, to concerts and thanks to modern technologies they can use computers and the internet.
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Sándor Karvai is unique even among the active blind. He takes such joy in life and partakes in such adventures that are rare even among those who can see and are completely healthy.
Not that long ago he was driving an electric car for 3 kilometres on the north part of Lake Balaton. His maximum speed was around 45 km/h, but he was driving by himself, only receiving instructions through a phone. And this was not the first extraordinary thing he has done.
Who would you believe if not him, when he says that life is beautiful.
Sándor grew up in Nógrád county. He had many sighted friends who welcomed him and never let him miss out on anything interesting. “I could play hide-and-seek, hit-and-run or soccer just like everybody else. If the best thing I could do was to obstruct the players from the other team, it was already worth it.”
He is 43 years old now, but he still lives by his motto that he does not want to be left out of anything. He believes that every day is a gift and new opportunities are waiting for him.
He has been working at Főkefe-Kézmű-Erfo for a year and a half now. This company employs the most people with disabilities in the country. They make furniture, bags and stationaries. They try to work on the public perception of the disabled. Sándor is a great help in these matters. He visits schools and tells stories about people with disabilities, making it clear, that they can be a productive part of our society and they can live happy lives with lots of adventure. His experience shows that most children 10 years old and up are really open and interested in what he has to say.
The first time he realized that he was different was when he could not go to the same pre-school as his twin and his older brother. It was also hard knowing that his friends are learning how to ride a bicycle and he cannot do the same.
So he decided to learn how to ride. Balancing is done with the ears, so technically you do not have to see in order to ride a bike. His hearing also lets him know when he leaves the bicycle path and goes onto unpaved roads.
He also uses a kind of echolocation. By making clicking sounds and listening to their echoes, he can determine how far an object is.
After learning how to ride a bicycle, the next logical step is to learn how to ride a motorcycle. He found out that if he keeps his legs on the ground at first and gradually lets go of the clutch, the engine will not stall. His father’s Wartburg also looked pretty interesting to him. In fact, he is interested in most vehicles. He says that if he were sighted, for sure he would be a bus or truck driver.
Photo: www.facebook.com/pg/karvaisandor
So how did he manage those 3 Guinness records?
This all started 13 years ago when he tested a Lexus SUV and a small Peugeot for a TV show. There he met Barna Kőváry rally driver, who asked him to be his navigator. Together they won the Hungarian championship in 2009 in their category.
Meanwhile, he became friends with another rally driver, Gergő Borsi. With his help, Sándor got to ride a Kawasaki for a few hundred meters on the Hungaroring.
In 2012 he completed a full lap on the Hungaroring. No one has ever done anything like this before. His average speed was 35 km/h, his maximum speed was almost 50 km/h. This got him his first Guinness record. Of course, doing a full lap would be hard in ideal conditions, but luck was not on his side. They lost connection for a while and Sándor had to navigate a few turns without any help, relying on his memory.
Two years later he rode a jet ski for 1600 meters. This was his second Guinness record.
In 2015 he drove a luxury bus filled with reporters. He also tried out a tank.
The third Guinness record came when he drove an electric car on road 71. Many of his dreams have come true, but he still has some things on his bucket list. He wants to drive a truck and a train too.
He is always careful when he is driving, knowing how dangerous it can be. He can never forget that he needs to rely on others to keep him safe.
Wizz Air celebrated the event with the unveiling of a special livery on a Wizz Air Airbus A321.
“When we started Wizz Air in 2004, we knew that the airline would change people’s lives, making flying affordable for more people than ever before. Our absolute focus on achieving the lowest possible operating cost and, so, provide the lowest fares to market have seen Wizz Air become a 100 aircraft airline just 14 years after our first flight,” said CEO József Váradi.
Wizz Air has committed orders for a further 268 aircraft for delivery until the end of 2026. It expects to carry 100 million passengers a year by that time, supported by a staff of 10,000.
Photo: MTI
Liszt Ferenc International has become one of the fastest growing airports in the world thanks in part to Wizz Air, said Jost Lammers, CEO of airport operator Budapest Airport. Wizz Air has served 26 million passengers at the airport since 2004, he added.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade state secretary Levente Magyar said Hungary’s government would provide Wizz Air with all of the support in its power to help it achieve success in the coming years.
Wizz Air also announced on Monday the establishment of a foundation that will support health, education, child care and emergency aid.
